


The End of the World (Again)

by passionate_fruit



Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Mental Instability
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-25 12:16:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17725022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/passionate_fruit/pseuds/passionate_fruit
Summary: Trigon is finally defeated, and everyone involved is, well, exhausted, both physically and mentally. Everyone not involved are just trying to find out the odds and ends of what happened.Or, The Justice League show up but the last thing Dick needs is to see Batman, especially after Trigon's vision.





	1. Chapter 1

Trigon had only _just_ been defeated before everything seemed to start again. Dick’s eyes moved slowly around between Rachel and Gar, who both seemed pretty out of it. And, based on the way his heart was exploding, he was pretty out of it too.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he can see Kory as she dances around Rachel, speaking softly but too scared to move any closer. Donna seemed to be trying to help Gar up, but Dick could only feel the way her concerned eyes pierced into his soul. She was probably mad at him for running ahead, but something stopped her from saying anything to him. Someone dressed in blue and red entered the room, followed by more and more people. A black shadow creeped into his corner vision.

No. _Please,_ begging, pleading, whining. Not _him._ Not right now. 

Donna and Gar were suddenly right next to him for a minute, the former squeezing his hand, hard, the latter staring at him with large questioning eyes, then nodding his head once like he understood. But a moment later they were gone. Dick leaned against the damaged wall and let his back slide down it until he was sitting on the floor.

The Justice League surrounded the whole room.

The _Justice League_. Earth’s _defenders._

So _of course_ a demon from another dimension would be enough to get them all here. Of course.

Wonder Woman was crouched beside Rachel and Kory. Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter were inspecting the large burn spot from where Trigon had vanished. The Flash was cleaning up the bodies of Angela and some other guy who must’ve had the unfortunate bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Superman flew around, probably inspecting everything with his x-ray eyes or something.

Instinct told him that there were more members around somewhere he couldn’t see, probably checking the area around, or helping Gar, or questioning Donna. Jason might even be here too.

That thought only made him want to vomit.

Visions of wheelchairs and blood and screaming filled his mind.

He absentmindedly let his eyes skip over the dark shadow in the center of the room.

The dark shadow seemed just as content ignoring _him_ anyway.

Still mind-achingly distant, Dick was vaguely aware of Wonder Woman helping him to his feet. Kory and Rachel were no longer in the room, but he couldn’t remember for the life of him when they had left.

He could barely remember anything that happened.

A happy life ended cruelly by his own hands, anger and murder spilling messily out of his fists until it finally won.

Batman died, and Dick lost everything.

Gentle hands held him as he shook, and he was brought into the present long enough to hear something that pushed his sanity over the edge.

“Report.” Batman ordered, and for that moment it was like nothing had changed. It was like he never left, like Batman had sent him on this mission, and now he had to fill him in, as if Batman didn’t already know.

Wonder Woman squeezed his shoulders before leaving the small room, probably to help find out what happened.

Thankfully, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter were still in the room with him, but it still felt painfully _empty._

Batman waited patiently just a few feet in front of Dick, who was now wishing that Diana had left him by the wall, because his knees felt ready to give out at any second.

Dick moved his eyes up until he was staring straight into Batman’s eyes, ready to explode, to yell, basically anything that would break the silence.

Then his eyes betrayed him, and he instead had to focus everything on _not_ crying in front of the Batman at this very moment. Or any moment. Ever.

Dick just wishes that he was less out of it, because what instead happened was way worse than a few tears. He was full on sobbing.

Batman was suddenly in front of him, like he actually _cared._ Dick tried to pretend that he didn’t feel worse because of that.

Batman’s voice was quiet, but carefully concerned. “Dick.”

He couldn’t answer. He was frozen stiff minus the way his chest was heaving.

“Dick, Dick. Listen to me. Dick.”

And it was like he could tell what Batman was gonna say next. The word, the one word that made him feel better, the one word that made him stronger, the one word Dick never wanted to hear again.

_“Robin--”_

“No, no no no no no no no. No.” His throat was scratchy, and it stung to talk so quickly but he didn’t care. “You don’t get to call me that. I’m not... I don’t deserve to be--” His voice catches in his throat. Batman continues to walk towards him slowly, his arms in front of him as though he was calming a wounded animal. Dick couldn’t move. Floorboards creaked from somewhere else in the house, and hushed voices that used to be so close were now drifting farther and farther away. Time seemed to slow down and all of the sudden he couldn’t _breathe._

Because that’s exactly what Batman had told him, wasn’t it? Before he kicked him to the curb. 

“You’ve become too reckless…”

“...too emotional…”

“...too much…”

“...you can’t handle…”

“...you don’t need…”

“...you don’t _deserve…”_

Robin.

_Robin._

Dick’s knees gave out and Batman reached forward to catch him and--

He missed, he missed, he missed.

Dick hit the floor hard, and he barely felt the way his wrist snapped as it took the brunt of the impact. Batman’s eyes seemed to follow him down.

Get away, get out, move!

Dick scrambled back as Batman moved. And--oh, Dick couldn’t bring himself to look higher than his neck. That’s where he stood, after everything, that’s where he ended up.

Never quite on Batman’s level, but just high enough to have promise, to look like he had a future in the crime-fighting business.

But now, he couldn’t stand the thought. 

Kory’s lifeless eyes stared silently upwards.

_Fake._

He knows it is.

His feet pound as he makes his way to where Batman laid trapped under rubble.

_Fake._

It was. It definitely was.

Batman’s throat snapped under his foot.

_Fake._

It was Batman’s fault.

_Fake._

Batman’s a monster.

_Fake._

It was Dick’s fault all along.

 _Real._ Way too real.

Batman would never turn out like that.

_Real._

The thought practically caused him to sob even more as his head finally slammed into the wall after his attempt at escaping. Batman didn’t hesitate to grab onto his arm, even after all Dick did to fight it. He was still fighting it. He kicked and yelled and pushed, but Batman kept his hand around Dick’s uninjured wrist.

Dick was the monster.

Batman wouldn’t kill, but Dick would.

Dick did.

And it hurt him the most to say that after everything, the fighting, the lying, the distrust. After Batman handed away Dick’s title like it was his, Dick still wasn’t mad at him.

From the corner of his vision, another dark figure glared at him from the shadows.

A younger version of Dick, the hatred in his eyes unwavering as he looks at what he had become.

Dick stopped struggling, and Batman’s hand loosened on his wrist.

Batman would never reach the point of becoming a monster because Dick wouldn’t let him.

Because somehow, after everything, the only one Dick was still mad at was himself.

And Dick hated it.


	2. Chapter 2

Donna knew she couldn’t leave Dick alone after everything that had just happened. But she also knew that he wouldn’t appreciate it if she went straight to coddling him, even if it looked like he needed it sometimes.

Instead she bent down to help Gar. He seemed to be more shaken up than anything, and it took a few moments for him to sit up without getting dizzy, much less _standing_ up. But hey, what are friends for?

Donna kept a steadying hand on Gar’s back as she watched Kory struggle with Rachel. Rachel still seemed wary after everything that had happened between them, not to mention the fact that she lost both her parents barely ten minutes ago. Granted, they were evil, but it had to still hurt. Donna smiled as Rachel finally leaned into the hug Kory was awkwardly initiating.

But onto the real problem: Dick. She had sent him quite a few glances over the past minute or two, and so far he’d only looked guilty and confused. They would probably need to talk about what happened after he had managed to get inside Trigon’s force-field.

But then came the bigger problem. The Justice League. After all of the crazy magic or whatever else had just happened at this house? There was no way that there wouldn’t be at least a small handful of leaguers all on their way here.

Another glance at Dick, and it was all Donna could hope for that _Batman_ wouldn’t come. That for once, he’d be too busy with Gotham and not show up. But that was apparently too much to ask for. Donna found herself looking through a hole in the wall as the Justice League approached. She could see heroes such as Wonder Woman, Superman, the Flash, and plenty of others. And Batman.

Gar looked pretty impressed once he caught a glimpse of what she was looking at, so Donna went with it. He’d probably think it was cool and Trigon was already gone, so might as well, right?

Donna stopped by Dick on her way to the door. The leaguers were entering the house and Dick turned three shades paler. Donna would have to get him out of here soon, but chances are it’d be pretty difficult to convince the League to let them all go before the League knew what had happened here. She didn’t really feel that she truly knew what happened, but her information would have to be enough because everyone else seemed too traumatized to answer.

Donna reached over and squeezed Dick’s hand reassuringly. He was swaying and shaking where he stood, which would hopefully deter most leaguers from asking him anything for a while, but she’d still have to get through the interrogation part quick to get him out of here before Batman got to him.

She made her way out as Diana made her way in, and they locked eyes. Diana nodded and Donna breathed a breath of relief. 

Donna would have around half an hour before she’d be allowed to go anywhere, so she’ll have to hurry.

-

Donna stared into Green Arrow’s eyes as she answered his last question. Other leaguers were with Kory, Rachel, and Gar as they tried to piece together what had happened. A few of the leaguers had left once they realized there was no world-saving battle left. The Flash took off with Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter to analyze some data from whatever they had found. Batman looked like he was doing some research of his own.

Dick was still inside the ruined remains of the house. At least Diana had promised to look after him.

Donna caught a look with Kory on her way to Dick. For all of her part in what had happened, she did look sorry and like she truly cared about everyone else on her makeshift team. Donna respected that, and shared as much with a knowing tip of her head as she turned to walk through the front door. Donna tried hard to hope for the best. It wasn’t always her go-to mindset, but she felt like she and Dick deserved it at least once.

No such luck.

Dick, for his part, didn’t seem as bad as he could’ve been considering that Batman left barely two minutes ago under circumstances that she didn’t know. It could’ve gone a lot worse.

But still, Dick looked barely conscious and still seemed to be weakly fighting off Wonder Woman from where he was leaned against the farthest wall. From where she was she could still see him shaking, although the tears on his face were new.

_Oh, Dick…_

Donna surged forward with a purpose as she tried to come up with a plan in the few short steps it would take to reach her pseudo younger brother.

She had seen him like this before, occasionally. As much as he tried to hide his feelings, there were always moments where things slipped through the facade. That didn’t mean she could fix everything, however, and judging by everything that had happened recently, she wouldn’t be getting any closer any time soon.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” It was said quieter than a whisper, but she heard it loud and clear. Dick’s eyes were shut tightly. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault, I can’t, couldn’t…”

Donna knelt down to place a hand on his forehead and rubbed smoothing patterns into his hairline. Diana caught her eye and got up. Donna spent a brief moment deciding on whether or not she wanted Diana to stay, but then Diana waved her hand in a way that told Donna she’d be back soon. She had better be. As much as Donna wants to be alone with Dick she knew that she couldn’t do it by herself.

Dick’s eyes remained closed as she held his head up against the wall. His body straightened as he leaned into her touch. His lips still whispered fervent nonsense as tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes. It was so weird seeing him like this, but it was probably inevitable based on the way he acted with her for the past few days. Too angry. Too much to hide. She whispered back her own soothing words as she positioned herself beside him.

“Dick?” a new voice called from just beyond the doorway. Dick flinched at the mention of his name. Rachel came into view, and Dick flinched again, his eyes still closed. Rachel made no move to come any closer. “Donna?”

“He’ll be fine.” Donna said, not sure if it was for her benefit or Rachel’s. Probably both. The man in question continued twitching at every word. Donna reached for his hand before noticing the redness of his wrist and the swelling and bruises that indicated a break.

The shadow of Rachel slowly shifting where she stood made Dick flinch.

“Was that _him?”_ Donna asked, gently grabbing his arm so that Dick would know what she was talking about. Painful silence continued. His wrist definitely wasn’t hurt before, and she wouldn’t put it past Batman. Maybe he wouldn’t do it on purpose, because she knew that Bruce did care, but he was an idiot at times. Grabbing Dick’s wrist too hard or dealing with him a too roughly was a mistake that Donna wouldn’t put past Batman. “I will kill him…” she muttered.

And it was supposed to be a joke, a reassurance. To show that she was on his side, that she would do anything to protect him. She didn’t have a murder spree planned out or anything. But Dick’s eyes shot wide open and he used both his hands to shove himself away from her.

“Dick? I--” Donna shut herself up as she tried to come up with a better plan. Dick was breathing too fast, probably not really listening to her anymore, and Rachel seemed to be freaking out from just watching him.

If this were any other situation, Donna might would laugh at the way that Rachel’s emotions reflected his. It was endearing that they cared for each other so much despite not knowing each other for long.

Donna shook her head to clear her thoughts. She couldn’t get caught up in times like these. Dick seemed to be caught up in a painful memory, and for what it was worth, seemed to be trying to deal with it himself. Of course, that would only do more harm than good in the long run, because Donna sincerely doubted that he had any good methods when it came to coping. She quickly glanced back at Rachel, who Kory was trying to talk to now, and got to work doing what she could.

As she held Dick in a tight hug, careful of his injured wrist, she wondered how she could help him through this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda a liiil bit out of character, but after this chapter "normal" life comes back for a bit so yay

**Author's Note:**

> oh boy let's see if I ever actually manage to finish the other chapters for once


End file.
